After braving all of the individual perils, mishaps and trials of the Book of Eibon, Team Spartoi finally comes face to face with the final and most potent adversary, the warlock Noah, responsible for the kidnap of Death the Kid

Well, chapter 80's out and I just figured I'd kick start a discussion on the other monthly shonen you should be reading. (The first was Fullmetal Alchemist, but it finished its run admirably earlier this year.) With Team Spartoi's finest up against my favorite mage and holder of the Master Ball Book of Eibon, things are starting to get a bit crazy in a way that would make the multiple climaxes of the Baba Yaga Arc proud. With that said, discuss.

...When Larry the reploid accountant goes maverick of his own accord, he's certainly formidable during tax season, but he isn't going to provide X the challenge needed to make him grow as a warrior and reach his potential.

Seriously, Soul Eater as an animation did so much right in a time when I was really starting to drift away from anime. The choreography and energy were superb, the art style and direction were so distinct and vibrant, and the soundtrack was the stuff of legend. T.M. Revolution brought their A game with Resonance, Strength (Under the Arbington Boys School name), and my personal favorite, Soul's Crossing (Monotone Princess OP).

You're right Blackhook, Studio BONES () were wholly responsible for the animation in the Soul Eater anime. They've also mentioned once or twice that they wouldn't mind revisiting the franchise and doing a "Brotherhood" for it should the audience still be there for it and the manga winds down well enough in the future. I'm hoping out hope for it as SE is/was one of the most refreshing new things in anime for me at the time. Episode one was godlike and one of Bones best.

Meanwhile, I'm slowly but surely fixing up that first post. In the meantime, since this is a general discussion thread, what is everyone's draw to the series so far? For me it was the theme of the show, namely insanity and seeing how Okubo has managed to use almost every kind of insanity there is to write the characters and story lines in the manga thus far. It's crazy how subtle this guy is, he gave Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist) a fair run for her money with hinting and foreshadowing all over the BREW - Baba Yaga Castle arcs in my opinion. The concept behind the weapon/meister pairs is also something I found interesting and have actually played with a few times in the past. It's good to see it realized in such an energetic and dynamic way. Then there's the fact that Soul Eater is one of the few fictions I have where I actively look forward to seeing the new characters introduced. Evrytime I think I won't be surprised by them, I wind up doing a double take and enjoying myself a ton. Favorite characters in design alone are Stein, Medusa, Kirik,

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400 Years Prior Mosquito and Noah

. Don't get me started on their writing or this post will get huge.

Also of note, I [tornado fang]ing adore Okubo's art style. It started out fairly rough and crude in the earliest chapters of the series, but by the BREW arc, it was just sexy as hell. (Black Star vs. Mifune anyone?) His color pages are also awesome, it makes me kinda sad that SE isn't a full color comic sometimes.

Not that Kidd's attack wasn't awesome or anything...I just thought Noah would put up a better fight...who knows, maybe he's not dead yet. Also it looks like Mr. Kishin himself will be joining the fun... I hope the heroes will fill their fists with COURAGE!

I'm putting money on some sort of "potion of soul/essence/being elsewhere" gambit in play here. I also don't think that we're gonna jump straight into Kishin shenanigans right away. Something's up, and I think we're also overdue for some more Medusa interference. On another note, "Soul Eater Not!"? I'm morbidly curious.

It's actually more of a spin off that develops some newer recruits into Shibusen/DWMA from what I'm understanding. I like the idea though, Ohkubo is really good with abilities & characters. If they also use this as a testbed for new characters that can appear in the "main" Soul Eater storyline, I'd be all kinds of hyped for it.

So kid managed to connect his second line of Sanzu? Awesome. I can't WAIT until he connects all 3. Im imagining thats going to be some awesome [parasitic bomb] then.As for Noah, is anyone SURPRISED that he wasnt a real person? I was under the assumption that he was "something else" from the start. If you ask me, he probably just went inside the book when attacked, only to come out later with... a tan..?

I lol'd at how Tezca mentions disguising himself and thus simply puts on a different mask.

...When Larry the reploid accountant goes maverick of his own accord, he's certainly formidable during tax season, but he isn't going to provide X the challenge needed to make him grow as a warrior and reach his potential.

I's pretty much a straight re-broadcast/re-airing of the original anime with some new openings and endings. I'm guessing SE is popular enough to warrant a new show, but since the guys at BONES aren't ready to do a whole new anime based of the manga stuff (or the author/mangaka didn't get the clearance to start it up yet; whatever the politics are for these things), they decided to just re-air everything.